Highlights from Memorial Day Weekend

Beginning with Thursday: It was so hot that the kids ate their after-school snack outside in the shade in the backyard.


Thursday night, at the kids' little league baseball game, Beau pitched one inning.


Casey was catcher that night.


Skippin to Saturday: In the morning, Beau helped the cub scouts put flags on the veterans' graves at the Cambridge Cemetery.


In the afternoon, Britt helped Larry position their new front walkway.


Beau and Jake were conscripted to haul wheel barrow loads of soil.


That night, we went to the see New England Revolution (soccer) play against Kansas City and lose 4 to 3.


Sunday morning, eight of us went for hike before lunch.


While hiking, we found a toad.

And we saw lots of Lady Slipper flowers.


Monday, Britt, Beau, and Casey marched with the cub scouts in the Memorial Day Parade.

Our Dear Friend James

Our dear friend James was in town on business this week and we are very happy that he squeezed in a visit with us.

We saw him briefly very late on Monday night after he had flown in on a merry flight from the UK. Then we saw him again last night before he flew home (sans Lego kits because it's nearly impossible to find a toy store in Boston and also nearly impossible to simply stumble across one in Cambridge). Since we didn't know until late afternoon that he'd be free to see us last night, he gamely went along with us to a fundraising silent auction and dinner that we had long ago purchased tickets for. In the end, it was too sad to have him not see the kids for the first time in six years. So, we left the benefit early, came home, roused the kids, and capped off our visit with tea, a chat about X-Box versus PlayStation versus Wii, and a look at home movie hightlights of the past hockey season.

"You've Had the Most Birthdays of Anyone in the Family"

Casey's asstute observation on Saturday night was the lead-in to my birthday celebration on Sunday. I had breakfast in bed accompanied by a complete round of homemade birthday cards. In the afternoon, we went into Boston for Japanese noodle lunch at Wagamama's, which Beau loved and Casey ate without fuss. Afterward we walked to the movie theater and saw Shrek the Third. Back at home we had a simple dinner followed by birthday cake (the cake has its own blog entry) and a round of Farkle, which Beau came from (very far) behind to win.

I spent the whole day with my family. It doesn't get any better than that.

A Birthday Cake to Make Me Happy... and Sad

The most memorable part of my birthday on Sunday was the cake that Beau made for me.

Saturday night he baked layers of lemon cake. Sunday morning I helped him mix up some buttercream icing then left him to tint the icing and decorate the cake.

Standing just outside the kitchen, I watched him get started. Casey and Britt were standing by to help, and I heard Beau tell them, "The first thing we need is a crumb coat."

A crumb coat! My 10-year-old son knows what a crumb coat is. I'm so proud. And happy.

Someday he'll endear himself to his girlfriend by presenting her with a homemade cake on her birthday. And he'll break my heart.

Beau's Walking Stick

Britt and Beau went on an overnight cub scout camping trip last weekend. While there, Beau began working on a walking stick, which he brought home. Here you can see that he is still wittling away on it.